


Here (In Your Arms)

by moongirl24



Category: As the World Turns
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-25
Updated: 2011-09-25
Packaged: 2017-10-24 00:58:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/257073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moongirl24/pseuds/moongirl24
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before Luke, Noah never thought of himself as the kind of guy who liked cuddling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Here (In Your Arms)

Before Luke, Noah never thought of himself as the kind of guy who liked cuddling. In fact, Noah never believed himself to be particularly touchy-feely at all. He was never very close with the few girls he dated, maybe with the exception of Maddie, and apart from the few times they had sex there was never much physical contact involved. And with a father who taught him that showing any kind of love and affection was ‘women’s nonsense’, well, he supposed it wasn’t so strange that the word ‘cuddle’ wasn’t the most used one in his vocabulary.

But that was _before_. Meeting Luke opened up a whole new world to Noah. Suddenly he found himself wanting to touch Luke, wanting to kiss him and hold his hand and be close to him, preferably all at the same time and all the time. And the fact that he could actually do all those things, that Luke was _his_ \- that was pretty mind-blowing.

It was a little weird at first, all that boyfriend stuff. Noah wasn’t quite sure how to act, how to be another guy’s boyfriend, but he soon discovered that for the most part he could just go with whatever felt natural. Luke seemed to like it when Noah just went with his heart instead of listening to the voices in his head – his father’s voice, mostly – and as long as Luke was happy, Noah figured he was doing something right.

And cuddling, that’s something that Noah has really come to love. After they moved in together, he discovered that one of the perks of having their own place is that it gives them a lot more cuddle time. Getting to hold Luke in his arms every night before they fall asleep, and waking up next to him every morning, is a luxury Noah hopes he will never take for granted.

On the weekends, as long as Noah doesn’t have the early shift at Java, they usually sleep in. He really loves those long, lazy mornings, when they can stay in bed as long as they want to, alternately making love and snuggling up to each other between the warm sheets. Noah always feels so close to Luke at those times. He would lie there with that warm, perfect body in is arms, feeling that invisible bond between them that can’t be broken. He never even knew he could feel this way about another person, that he could love someone so much. But Luke changed all that. Luke changed a lot of things.

One of the things that Noah really loves is how Luke always cuddles up to him whenever they are watching a movie together. Sometimes, or quite often really, Noah finds it hard to focus on the actual movie with Luke being so close, especially if Luke starts doing that thing he does, when he moves his hand under Noah’s shirt, looking for bare skin. Sometimes, when that wicked hand starts wandering further down, they don’t even make it to the credits. Noah always feels kind of bad about that, because he prefers to finish the movie he’s watching, but if he has to choose between fucking Luke and finishing a movie, the choice isn’t very hard. He can always watch the movie again later. Saying no when Luke wants to have sex, on the other hand, isn’t something he has ever wanted, or been able, to do.

Lately though, he and Luke have barely had time to see each other at all. Noah knows that it can’t be helped – Luke is busy settling into his new job with Damian and Noah himself has his hands full with his senior project and working his shifts at Java. But he really misses Luke. He misses spending time with him.

And that is why his mood brightens considerably when he comes home one afternoon and is greeted by loud music coming from inside the apartment. Luke is supposed to be working all day and not be home until late, but Noah figures something must have come up because music this loud can only mean one thing: Luke is home and he’s cleaning.

Luke hates cleaning. Actually he hates pretty much all kinds of housework, but especially cleaning. He always says that the only way he can get through it is by putting music on really loud so it distracts him from how boring it is. Noah, on the other hand, doesn’t really mind doing it, so he’s usually the one who takes care of that particular task.

But not today, apparently. Noah pulls off his backpack and shrugs off his jacket, hanging it on the coat rack. He can hear Luke singing in the kitchen, so he quickly walks over to the kitchen door, peering into the room. What he sees there makes him smile. Luke is cleaning the kitchen floor and singing his heart out to the song that is blasting from the stereo. He’s wearing sweat pants and an old t-shirt, and his face looks flushed, his hair a mess that stands out in all directions. Noah’s heart beats a little faster just at the sight of him. Luke looks gorgeous, even like this. Maybe especially like this.

Noah moves over to the stereo and turns the music down to speaking level, causing Luke to jump and whirl around. When his gaze falls on Noah, he smiles brightly.

“Didn’t see you there,” he says, drying his hands on a kitchen towel.

“I could tell,” Noah chuckles as he walks over to him. Luke leaves the towel on the counter and meets Noah in an embrace. “Hi,” Noah breathes as they kiss gently.

“Hi yourself,” Luke murmurs against Noah’s lips, not breaking away from the kiss. “I missed you today.”

“I thought you were supposed to be too occupied with business meetings to even think about me,” Noah smiles, pulling back enough to look at him.

“No. All the meetings got cancelled. Damian gave me the afternoon off instead. So I cleaned the apartment.” Luke looks so proud of himself that Noah has to move in to kiss him once more. He really is adorable sometimes.

“I also have dinner ready,” Luke continues, moving out of Noah’s arms and turning to the kitchen counter.

For a second Noah is nervous because he’s really hungry and whenever Luke tries to cook something it doesn’t usually end so well. But Luke turns his head and smiles at him. “Don’t worry,” he says, reading Noah’s mind. “It’s takeout from Al’s.”

“Who said I was worried?” Noah asks innocently. Luke just snorts and throws Noah his best _I’m-not-stupid_ -look.

Over dinner, Noah tells Luke about his day. He and Mason did some final editing on his script and now he’s almost ready to start shooting. Noah can hardly contain his excitement over the prospect of finally making his first film, and luckily he doesn’t have to because Luke is almost as excited about it as he is.

One of the things that Noah loves about Luke is how supportive he is. Luke has always believed in Noah one hundred percent and he was the first person to ever really do that. Every time Noah starts having doubts, about himself as an aspiring director, about whatever school project he’s working on at the time, or about anything really, Luke always manages to make Noah believe in himself again. When Luke embraces him and softly whispers “I’m proud of you, baby” into his ear, Noah suddenly feels like he can do anything. He knows that if he’s ever able to fulfill his dream of becoming a filmmaker it will be all because of Luke and the unyielding faith he has in him.

When dinner has been consumed and the empty takeout boxes thrown into the trash, Luke goes to make a quick phone call to Damian while Noah walks into the living room and throws himself down on the couch. He closes his eyes, feeling really tired all of a sudden. He was up at the crack of dawn this morning to go to work and afterwards, he worked on his movie project all day. Tomorrow will be pretty much the same, probably. He sighs. Sometimes he really wishes there were more hours in the day.

“Hey, you okay?” Luke asks as he enters the living room and walks over to the couch to lie down next to Noah. Noah instantly scoots closer to the back to make more room for him, reaching out one arm to put it around Luke and pull him closer. Luke gets comfortable next to him, finding his favorite position with his head on Noah’s shoulder.

“Yeah, just tired,” Noah says just as a long yawn escapes him. “It’s been a long day.” He looks down at Luke, pressing a soft kiss to his temple. “I’m glad you’re here though. I didn’t think I’d get to see you at all today.”

“I know,” Luke says, then after a pause, “I’m sorry I’ve been working so much lately.”

“No, don’t apologize,” Noah says quickly because it’s not Luke’s fault that they haven’t been able to see each other. It’s not anybody’s fault. It’s just… life. “I’ve been busy too, and I know it’s not easy to start a whole new job. We’ll get through this. As long as you enjoy your job, because that’s the most important thing.” He looks down at Luke again. “You do enjoy it, don’t you?”

“I do, I just don’t like that it takes so much of my time. It’s kind of overwhelming. And I really hate all those stupid dinner meetings. I feel like I never have a free evening anymore. And I want to be here for you too, especially now when you’re about to start shooting, but there just isn’t any time.” He sighs miserably. “This isn’t how I imagined it would be. You know, living together. I thought we’d get to see each other more than we did before, not less.”

Luke’s hand starts doing its thing and Noah closes his eyes again, enjoying the feel of Luke’s touch on the bare skin of his stomach. “It won’t always be like this,” he murmurs. “It’s just that everything is sort of happening all at once. Things will slow down eventually and until then…” he waits until Luke looks up at him, “there are always evenings like this one.”

“Mmm yeah,” Luke sighs, snuggling closer. “This is really nice. Just lying here like this. It’s been a long time since we did that.”

“Too long,” Noah agrees, trying to stifle another yawn. “Tell you what,” he says. “How about we take a short nap here on the couch, because I really am damn tired, and then-” He gives Luke a mischievous grin, “We spend the rest of the evening in bed.”

Luke chuckles approvingly. “You always have the best plans, Mayer,” he murmurs, moving up to leave a quick kiss on Noah’s mouth. “But yeah, napping first. You look really tired, baby.”

Luke brushes his hand over Noah’s cheek and lies down with his head on Noah’s shoulder again, and Noah pulls Luke a little closer. Having Luke in his arms like this, there is just nothing like it. He smiles a little to himself. Who knew? Noah Mayer, the guy who always kept a firmly-maintained distance between himself and everyone around him, always too cautious to let anyone come too close. How did he end up being such a sucker for cuddling?

It’s all Luke’s fault, Noah thinks, smiling affectionately as he leans down to leave a quick kiss in Luke’s hair. Luke is already halfway asleep, but a small smile is tugging on his lips and he makes this cute little satisfied sigh. And Noah thinks that in the end, it’s all worth it. All the long days and the lack of time together, the early mornings and the late evenings they have to work, it’s all worth it as long as there are moments like this. Where he can just _be_ with Luke and allow himself to bask a little in the happiness and love that he is lucky enough to have been gifted with. Noah never thought he would have that, but somehow it happened anyway, and if this is his reward for all the crap he went through in his life, then he’s glad he lived through it. He wouldn’t miss this for the world.

Noah lets out a long yawn and closes his eyes. Only seconds later, he’s asleep.

THE END


End file.
